knightsoflegend | CLOSED ♔ don't know what the country's coming to

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CLOSED ♔ don't know what the country's coming to

WHO || Rafael, Des, Buffy, their best pal in the world
WHAT || An unexpected incident
WHERE || Rome
WHEN || June 7th, 2014
HOW || Actionspam. Single thread.

Who knows how long unconsciousness has them all swallowed in its grip. But when it finally allows them to resurface, they'd notice the smooth motion of a car indicating they're... still riding in a vehicle. A wis check of 14+ might recognize it's a different limo, however, and it doesn't take a wisdom check to recognize that they are all crammed together on the same side of the seat now. With... hands cuffed to the seat between their legs.

Across from them, a large figure sits grinning manically... wearing a familiar gray cassock. Oh hi. :)

A single glance out the window at the bustling city outside is enough to recognize that is sure as shit ain't London. And Anderson will be quick to clear that up for y'all, waving one hand at the view.

"Well, now. I hope you all enjoyed your rest. Let me be the first t'bid ye welcome... to Rome."

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Suddenly regretting not leaving you in the car.

[ but it's summer, and it's even illegal to do that to dogs ok. her spot check is ... not horrible (21), so she's at least keeping an eye out for anything that looks off while she sasses. ]

At least the vault would involve some privacy. They're not gonna make us open it out here, are they?

[ that question is answered when rafael straightens up as the girl returns, taking the manila envelope that she slides across the counter with a dazed nod of gratitude as he turns to head back towards them. he holds the thing almost like it's a live bomb as he approaches des and buffy, looking them both briefly in the eyes before nodding slightly outside. the coast seems clear to buffy's eyes at least, and he doesn't really wait for an acknowledgment, just walks between them back out into the square. ]

[Des follows. This is a lot of dramatic tension for some photographs in his mind, but he can't really say for certain whether he'd feel the same way if he were in Rafael's shoes.

So he holds his tongue as he follows Rafael out of the bank and goes to lean on the car.]

You want me to drive us somewhere private?

[He's not even being a dick, okay. It's a legitimate question.]

[ buffy pivots to follow, looking over at des' question, then forward to rafael. ]

His house is probably close. [ isn't everything close to everything in european cities? you people drive 40 minutes to get to another country. ] But I think waiting might be worse.

I would like to go see it while we are here, but... you are right. There is no reason to wait. [ he takes a few steps beyond the car, past them, sliding his thumb in to break the seal on the envelope. ]

[as Des's boyfriend would say...]

Of course.

[ her affirmation comes as he moves past them. lips pressed together, it's clear she wants to follow, but instead she leans up against the car and hangs back. that's attempt number two at breathing room—probably about time they gave it to him. ]

[ ♬ broken vow - josh groban

raf turns around, reaching into the envelope and letting his hand stay there for a dramatic moment before he finally pulls out the photographs within and looks at them.

they can clearly see his face from where they stand, so they would be privy to the clear change in his expression, the dramatic forehead furrow dropping away into outright shock, following by a cocktail of outrage, anger, and horror as he stands there staring, frozen to the spot. ]

No...

[Well. That's not what he was expecting. Outrage, sure, but he expected it to be some screaming about photoshop or something.]

What? Do you know the guy or something?

[He backs away from the car to get a good look over Rafael's shoulder.]

[ that's a better reaction than anticipated—which of course means it's actually worse. she'd know how to handle a refusal to believe it, how to handle him throwing the contents of the envelope on the ground and dismissing it all as some cheap trick.

anger is easy, but he's devastated.

her heart twists in her chest and she surges forward, away from the car. she reaches out to touch him as she closes in, but draws her hand back before she ever does. that's probably the last thing he needs, but she doesn't know what else to do. one thing's for certain: she's not trying to get a look at the pictures. they're not her business. ]

[ well it's about to be. because rafael holds one up for her to see as des looks at the others in his opposite hand.

he definitely knows the guy. in fact, they all do.

the pictures are taken across the street from some kind of little garden adjacent to a cafe, and each one of them shows two people all up in each other's business: one of them eterna jade - and the other one, the one she has her arms around, the one she's looking up at with a wide emotional smile, the one who's running his fingers through her hair - is keijen blade. ]

This has to be a joke.

[That's enough to get Des looking a little pale. Everyone kept spouting off shit about how Blade cared for Jade, but he didn't buy into it. He got her roped into a deal that was killing her and that was it. That was where the line stopped. If there was anything else, it was probably mindless and meaningless, but not that.]

That rat bastard. He was playing her. [Oh, hi Delusional? Table for Two. Except it's not a delusion if you have every reason to believe that KEIJEN BLADE IS A SKANKY MINDRAPING SON OF A WHORE.]

No. He wasn’t.

[ buffy’s voice is soft. she reaches out to take the photograph from rafael, studying it for a moment. jade looks … god, she looks happy. she never got to see enough of that while she was alive. her thumb brushes over the image before she looks up at des. ]

Des, he came to her funeral. He told me, and—and Elena in those dreams that it was for her. He cared about her. [ she looks down at the photograph again. she cared about him too—there’s nothing fake about that smile. buffy’s opinion of blade is basically subterranean, but it does … fit, in a weird way. ]

She had to have forgotten this, too. Until the end. [ and she certainly wasn't swearing revenge on blade with her dying breath, ok. that doesn't really shout "i was mind controlled into an affair." besides: wouldn't he go full-stop? get her to leave rafael, come live with him happily ever after? (diplomacy 29 for this moment btw please see reason.) ]

That she cared about him, as well. [ the words don't seem to come easily to his tongue, a sort of numb quality to them as he stares down at the image, unable to argue with buffy's assessment. jade looks truly elated to see him, and there's no dazed look of a woman under the influence of mind control.

he lets the pictures drop into des' hand as he takes a step away, running one hand through his hair. ]

[Des snarls, balling his hand into a fist so that the picture crumples.] He came to her funeral? He told you he cared about her? That's what you're basing this on? Have you met Nadia, Blondie? 'Cause I have. That girl's a scared rabbit, which tells me everything I need to know about how Blade treats people he cares about. And neither of you were in the room with Jade when she talked about that deal she made with Blade- the one that got her that damned necklace. He dragged her into this.

[He drops the crumpled photograph on the floor and stomps on it, digging his heels into Blade's face.] The last thing she said to me before she died was that it needed to end. That the deal she was offered, the power- the same fucking power they probably offered Violet- it was all connected. It's all part of this stupid mess we're all entangled in. You look me in the eye and tell me Blade ever loved her if he could turn around and do what he did to her, because that really isn't love. And I bet she didn't think so either. Not at the end.

Edited 2014-06-16 06:37 (UTC)

[ holding up the picture in her hand, buffy remains calm in the face of des’ denial and fury. ]

Does she look scared to you?

[ nadia might be, but jade wasn’t. and nadia is unquestionably under blade’s control, which only further, in her mind, proves that jade was not. she shakes her head. ]

He didn’t say that he cared about her. But he came to warn us about Vi because Jade would have wanted it—that shows me he did. Still does. [ even in her death, the same as both rafael and des. ]

If she hated him for it, really hated him … don’t you think she would have told you then? [ buffy knows a thing or two about still caring for people even after they hurt you, ok. she knows better than to pretend it's that simple. ] She didn’t send you on some revenge kick after Blade, Des; she asked you to look at the bigger picture.

It's a photograph. [HAVE YOU SEEN THOSE PHOTOS OF SOLDIERS MOUTH-MOLESTING WOMEN ON THE STREET THAT LOOK S-SO KAWAII BUT REALLY AREN'T??? Yeah. He digs his foot into the photo once again for good measure.

But maybe Jade did care about him. Maybe it's real. That doesn't make it real on Blade's end. Blade still dragged her body and soul into something that drained her.] Don't you get it, Buffy? Jade didn't want it. Jade was miserable. She wanted to make sure no one ever got handed the raw deal she took. He was lying to you, and that proves it. You can debate about the rest of the details until you're blue in the face, but the one thing you can't deny is that making that deal hurt her. Nightscape's the proof. That deal was why it became what it was. And if it did that to her, then what do you think it would've done to Violet? Why would Jade want that for her?

[ she doesn’t try to stop or interrupt him as he goes, just lowers the photograph and shakes her head, clearly pressed to remain silent. a beat follows his rant before she turns her gaze back to him. ]

Do you feel better now?

[ she takes a step towards him. ]

Have you sufficiently convinced yourself that Jade couldn’t possibly love someone that you hate so much? [ because this isn’t about you, des, and she’d like to draw your attention to the way he is so theatrically making it so. ] Whatever happened, she did love him. Whether you think that makes him a monster for dealing with her or not, they had something real. [ she shoves the photo forward against his chest. ] And maybe, just maybe, this isn’t about the mountain of secrets that you hide behind.

[ she turns away from him in a huff, pacing over to where rafael undoubtedly needs a paper bag to start breathing in. des can get bent if he wants sympathy while, for the second time today, gushing about more things he hadn’t warned them about. more secrets, more lies. at least she has the sense to realize they came here because of rafael and not turn it into a blow-out. ]

That's an awfully big presumption from a photograph.

[He's just saying, but he's calming his tits. He really is. Look at that wonderful force of will he's exuding to not keep screaming vitriol on the sidewalk. He learned at the wedding that he's going to get nowhere when it comes to this subject. He hates Blade too much.

He treats the photographs he's holding to his chest with the same compassion he treated the one under his boot and digs his fingers into them too, looking over at Rafael to see what he has to say about all this.]

[ Rafael's face had been a loading screen while they talk.

Processing...

Processing...

Suddenly he looks up past Buffy at Des, expression dark and incredulous. ]

You knew Eterna made a deal with Blade? That he was the one?

She didn't name any names, but when he started yapping at the funeral, I put two and two together. The thing with the necklace added up, but it wasn't enough to peg him. It wasn't until the wedding when Buffy explained how bad off Vi was that I realized it was all true and that it was happening again.

And if we hadn't gotten kidnapped, I would have laid my cards on the table when we talked to Vi. Until then? I had no proof. And I didn't want you going off the deep end until I had something more than our mutual disdain for Blade.

[ wait. if that’s what was killing jade, if it was her deal with keijen, then des is right: telling vi can only help her. she’s been beating herself up about a battle that they all believed was over, but if they call this round two, maybe it’ll prompt her to—god only knows. something. ]

We need to get ahold of Vi. [ that’s her … begrudging acceptance that ok we’re moving on from the jade affair drama and des’ ranting is officially relevant and he’s not just making it about him. goddammit. ] She needs to know.

[ oh right, violet, more important than punching or not punching des. he looks back at buffy. ] ... Si. I do not know, however, if it will be safe for us to make a call until we are out of Italia.

Maybe we oughta reconvene at Rafael's house until we can get a flight back to London. [he rubs his forehead. this has been a very stressful couple of days and he would like to die now.] And hope Wynn, Zarad, and Burt haven't banded together to form a search party yet.

Uh, hello, Thomas? I think Wynn's search party is a little busy elsewhere.

[ but she takes the point. zarad and burt would be unstoppable. she turns to look at rafael as she moves around the car. ]

Home sweet home, huh? [ she pulls open the passenger's side door of the car and rests one hand on the roof, deciding it's her turn to be in shotgun after six hours of being cramped in the back seat (despite being the shortest and therefore most sensible ... back seater ... ] You should probably drive.

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